June 12, 2020 | By By Bryan Meek, Esq., Brennan, Manna, and Diamond As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to wreak havoc globally, many industries have been forced to adapt to unprecedented challenges while remaining cognizant of everchanging guidance from public health officials and government agencies. Notably, the healthcare industry has been confronted with countless practical…
November 17, 2023 | By Amanda Waesch This past September 2023, the Office of Inspector General for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (OIG) issued Advisory Opinion 23-06 (AO).1 The Opinion involved a proposed arrangement between an independent pathology laboratory and third-party physician laboratories for the purchase of the technical component of…
November 13, 2020 | By Bryan Meek, Esq., Brennan, Manna, and Diamond As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to wreak havoc globally, routine COVID-19 testing of employees, patients, and the general population have become more common. However, issues regarding coverage for this testing are starting to emerge. In recent weeks, major payers and insurers have…
April 9, 2021 | By Amanda Waesch In December 2016, Congress passed the 21st Century Cures Act (often simply called the “Cures Act”). Woven within the Cures Act is Section 4004 titled “Information Blocking.”[1] The purpose of this section is to prohibit any action or practice that interferes with or prevents access to electronic…
April 23, 2021 | By By Rachel Rose, JD, MBA Early in 2019, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services – Office for Civil Rights (HHS-OCR) announced the creation of an initiative to target violations of 45 CFR §164.524(b)(2) for not providing an individual with his/her requested protected health information (PHI) within…
April 24, 2020 | By Stanley Nachimson, Nachimson Advisors After a lengthy period of comments and discussions with industry leaders and vendors, the final Interoperability Rules for EHRs and health plans were released by HHS. These rules contain a myriad of technical and policy requirements for the electronic exchange of standardized data among providers…
July 23, 2020 | By Sean Weiss, CHC, CEMA, CMCO, CPMA, CPC-P, CMPE, CPC As you all know the Public Health Emergency (PHE) is due to expire on Saturday the 25th of July unless the Secretary of HHS issues a declaration extending the PHE under what is referred to as the Public Health Services…
August 7, 2020 | By By Rachel Rose, JD, MBA The Health Information Portability and Accountability Act, Pub. L. 104-191 (Aug. 1996) (“HIPAA”) is often times misapplied. Take the COVID-19 pandemic for example. Despite the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (“HHS”) and the Office for Civil Rights (“OCR”) reiterating the exceptions present…
August 21, 2020 | By Jesse Overbay, JD On March 13, 2020, the President of the United States issued an emergency declaration under the Stafford Act to declare a national health emergency, setting in motion a chain of events for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (“CMS”) and our entire healthcare system that…